D3East Rankings - November 30

The NCAA Division 3 Tournament is down to the Elite 8 quarterfinal round. Last Saturday Salisbury State survived Kean in a triple overtime thriller, while St. John Fisher stunned #1 Delaware Valley and knocked them from the ranks of the unbeaten.

We get few opportunities to compare east conferences during the regular season. So any opportunity we get to run a comparison in the playoffs is much welcome. However we need to remember we are dealing with a very small sample set. The top of the Empire 8 looks great after the Round of 16, but we only have two relevant games to draw this conclusion from.

Let's get past the mumbo jumbo and jump into our latest rankings release:

1. Salisbury State 11-1
2. Kean 10-2
3. St. John Fisher 10-2
4. Delaware Valley 11-1
5. Widener 9-2
6. Lycoming 8-2
7. Cortland 9-2
8. Hobart 7-2
9. Montclair 8-2
10. Lebanon Valley 8-3

Kean did everything but beat Salisbury State on the road. Ironically after a season in which pundits doubted Kean throughout their wins, they may have solidified their 2011 legacy with an incredibly impressive close defeat. Not many people gave Kean a chance to go into Salisbury and win, but they would have won had it not been for a blocked short field goal attempt in the first overtime.

St. John Fisher exposed Delaware Valley on Saturday. It was the first time someone shut down the Delaware Valley Aggies and controlled the football against them. It would be easy to point to this as proof of the superiority of top Empire 8 teams over top MAC teams. But that would be a mistake. One game is not enough to draw such a conclusion. For now accept that St. John Fisher is ranked one spot ahead of Delaware Valley, and let us see if Fisher can keep their season alive after this Saturday's quarterfinal action.

D3East Football Rankings - November 16

Here are my Division 3 Eastern Football Rankings for 11/16/2011:

1. Delaware Valley 10-0
2. Salisbury State 9-1
3. Kean 9-1
4. St. John Fisher 8-2
5. Widener 8-2
6. Lycoming 8-2
7. Cortland 8-2
8. Montclair 8-2
9. Hobart 7-1
10. Western New England 10-1

The regular season ended with a heck of a statement from Delaware Valley, which ripped Widener 56-28. Salisbury continued to roll, Kean defeated Montclair to capture the NJAC championship, and Cortland defeated Ithaca 27-3 to keep the Cortaca Jug for 2011.

Montclair may have been better off with Drew Cathey starting at home against Kean, than inserting Tom Fischer. Fischer was the starter prior to an injury at mid season, but it is hard to believe he had enough practice time to get ready for the Cougars. Montclair fell the furthest in our rankings, as we put a lot of stock in quality of quarterback when sorting closely bunched teams.

St. John Fisher shot up the rankings after an easy win, and a surprise invitation to the NCAA tournament. What they do with it is anyone's guess. The Cardinals travel to Baltimore to face Johns Hopkins (10-0), which is destroying its competition and averaging 500 yards of offense per game. However most people believe St. John Fisher plays a more demanding schedule in the Empire 8.

D3East Football Rankings - November 6

What a great day of football! Saturday reminded us of why we are fans. The top ranked Delaware Valley Aggies won a rivalry game on a last second drive, Montclair rallied from 21 points down to beat its biggest rival in overtime, and previously undefeated Hobart was stunned by RPI.

Let's get down to business. Here are my Division 3 Eastern Football Rankings for 11/6/2011:

1. Delaware Valley 9-0
2. Salisbury State 8-1
3. Widener 9-1
4. Montclair 8-1
5. Kean 8-1
6. Lycoming 7-2
7. Hobart 6-1
8. St John Fisher 7-2
9. Cortland 7-2
10. Western New England 9-1

The Delaware Valley Aggies remain the only undefeated team in Division 3 Eastern Region football.  We knew their game in Lycoming would be a close call, and it sure was. The Lycoming Warriors rallied to tie the score 21-21 with 1:01 remaining to play. But Delaware Valley drove 54 yards to score the winning touchdown with just seconds to play.

Salisbury won a statement game 41-21 over St. John Fisher, clinching the Empire 8 championship and a Pool A bid to the NCAA playoffs. It is my opinion that the Aggies and the Salisbury Gulls give the East its best 1-2 punch at the top of the playoff bracket that it has had in several years.

Raise your hand if you predicted Montclair and its backup quarterback would lose on the road to the Rowan Profs. I know I did, and I felt pretty smart with Rowan ahead 21-0. But Drew Cathey played a brilliant second half of football to rally Montclair to a 37-31 overtime victory. Kean had little trouble dispatching William Paterson, setting up a showdown for the NJAC championship between Kean and Montclair next Saturday.

Western New England stopped UMass-Dartmouth 28-18 to win its ninth game of the season. Like all NEFC leaders in the past decade, the Golden Bears of Western New England sport an impressive record but are completely untested out of conference. For that reason I don't have the confidence to rank them higher than #10. And honestly I wrestled with the idea of putting Rowan in the #10 spot. Unfortunately we won't know anything about Western New England until the first round of the NCAA playoffs is over.

Delaware Valley beats Lycoming in Thriller

The Delaware Valley Aggies (9-0) survived a big road test against the Lycoming Warriors (7-2), 28-21. Lycoming scored with just 61 seconds to play to tie the game at 21-21, on a 1-yard touchdown run by Zach Klinger.

The game appeared headed for overtime, but the Aggies intended to finish the job in regulation. Chris Wisniewski took a short kickoff at his own 38-yard line, and returned it 8 yards to the Delaware Valley 46-yard line. Aggies quarterback Aaron Wilmer connected with Rodney Blango for 16 yards to the Lycoming 38-yard line. Two plays later, Wilmer again found Blango for 15 yards on a key 3rd-and-10 play.

After a 15-yard pass play from Wilmer to Lewis Vincent, Wilmer ran the ball in from 8 yards out to score the winning touchdown with just 13 seconds remaining.

The gutty victory by Delaware Valley on the road solidified my belief that this is the best team in Eastern Region. The Aggies have a huge home game next Saturday with Widener (8-1), with the MAC title on the line. If the Aggies finish the job with back-to-back wins over strong teams to win the title, they will be a clear #1 seed and battle tested for the playoffs.

Congratulations to Delaware Valley, ranked #1 this week by d3east-football.

D3 Eastern Football Rankings - November 4 2011

With the playoffs just 2 weeks away, teams are fighting for conference titles and potential playoff seeding. How good do we think undefeated Delaware Valley is? What about Kean and Montclair? How much respect does Hobart deserve? It's time for our Division 3 Eastern Football Rankings for November 4, 2011.

1. Delaware Valley 8-0
2. Salisbury State 7-1
3. Widener 8-1
4. Hobart 6-0
5. St John Fisher 7-1
6. Kean 7-1
7. Montclair 7-1
8. Lycoming 7-1
9. Cortland 6-2
10. Western New England 8-1

Delaware Valley gets the top spot, but their last two games are at Lycoming, and home versus Widener. Lycoming's tough defense will prove difficult to overcome on the road for the Aggies, and Widener is arguably the hottest offensive unit in all of Eastern Region.

I really like Salisbury (who the NCAA ranks in their Eastern Region poll, but lists as a Southern Region member. The Gulls play in the Empire 8). Losing a close fought road game to national power Wesley is not reason to drop them from the top two.

Yes, Hobart is playing an abbreviated schedule this season. And the Liberty League competition is as weak as it has been in several seasons. But I have one thing to say to the Hobart doubters: "56-20." That is the score Hobart thrashed St John Fisher by on September 24.

I love the competition of the NJAC, but I don't see one team which seems like a dominant regional powerhouse. The conference looks to be the deepest in Eastern Region, with bottom tier teams like Brockport and Buffalo State sure to give a tough game to any opponent. But Montclair lost its starting quarterback. And Kean is coming off a recent loss to TCNJ. Let's see if one team emerges in the next two weeks.